nawab

English

Etymology

From Hindi नवाब (navāb) and Urdu نواب (navāb), from Persian نوّاب (navvâb), ultimately from Arabic نُوَّاب (nuwwāb), plural of نَائِب (nāʔib, “naib”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nəˈwɑːb/, /nəˈwɔːb/
• Rhymes: -ɑːb, -ɔːb
• Hyphenation: na‧wab

Noun

nawab (plural nawabs)

1. (historical) A Muslim official in South Asia acting as a provincial deputy ruler under the Mughal empire; a local governor. [from 17th c.]
   • 2015, Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans, Penguin 2016, p. 71:

     The nawabs of Bhopal, Ranput, Murshidabad, and Dhaka, along with the nizam of Hyderabad, all affirmed that the sultan has misled Muslims with his “erroneous” call to jihad and insisted that Indian Muslims had a duty to support Great Britain.

2. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus .

Translations

title

• Hungarian: navab
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Telugu: నవాబు (te) (navābu)

See also

• nabob

Anagrams

• ba-wan, bawan, bwana